Rank-Choice Voting Necessitates Voters to Carefully Consider their Second to Fifth Choices for Mayor

By Yehudit Garmaise

     After expensive runoff elections in New York City were necessary after few New Yorkers came out to vote in mayoral, city council, and other local races, in 2019, 73.5% of the city’s voters overwhelmingly approved the ranked-choice voting system that will be tested for the first time in a citywide election, in next month’s mayoral primary.

     In New York City, ranked-choice voting, which has been previously used in a special election for city council in Queens, also now will be used for elections for public advocate, comptroller, borough president, but not for general elections for county, state, and federal offices.

      Ranked-choice voting is the city’s solution to determining which candidates have the 50% minimum of voter support that is necessary to win. In the past, low-voter turnout has resulted in leading candidates getting only 40% of voters’ support, which necessitated costly and time-consuming runoff elections, which also received low-voter turnouts, before winners could be determined.

     Now to determine more quickly and efficiently which candidate receives the preference of at least 50% of voters, instead of just choosing one candidate as their favorites, New York City voters will order, according to their preferences, up to five candidates for mayor on June 22.

      Political operatives, pollsters, field organizers, campaign managers, and the candidates themselves have not been sure exactly how ranked-choice voting will affect the outcome of the mayoral election, however, BoroPark24 asked community leaders to weigh in.

       Although few people have fourth and fifth choices for mayor, Yoel Rosenfeld said that Boro Parkers should think very carefully about not just their favorite candidate for mayor, but the order of their preferences for five mayoral candidates.

       Voters only will go the polls once on June 22, but rank-choice voting rounds will progressively eliminate candidates who are ranked the lowest, until the candidate who is most preferred can be determined.

       “Some polls show that the mayoral election might go 10 rounds, until we get a winner," Mr. Rosenfeld said. “Therefore, it is very important to rank as many candidates as possible with whom our community can work.”

       “The number of candidates on the ballot makes it highly unlikely that any one of them will crack 50% on the first round,” said Chaskel Bennett, who is a co-founder of the Flatbush Jewish Community Coalition.

       “[Rank-choice voting], gives you more say in who gets elected,” says the NYCVotes website. “Even if your top choice candidate does not win, you can still help to choose who does win.”

       “Rank-choice voting gives voters the opportunity to rank second and third choices, who may not be their ideal candidates, may be far better than other candidates, who are definitely not preferred,” said Mr. Bennett, who also serves on the board of Agudah Israel of America. “It is thus crucial to list your extra choices in case your Number One candidate falls short."